Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Situation Report – 34

• No new countries reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

SITUATION IN NUMBERS
total and new cases in last 24 hours
Globally
78 811 confirmed (1017 new)
China
77 042 confirmed (650 new)
2445 deaths (97 new)
Outside of China
1769 confirmed (367 new)
28 countries
17 deaths (6 new)

Pandemic Seems Likely as Coronavirus Outbreaks Worsen in Several Countries.

On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization offered a stark warning about the chances of containing the global spread of the novel coronavirus amid ominous new outbreaks of the disease outside of China. “The window of opportunity is still there, but our window of opportunity is narrowing,” explained WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. By Sunday, it seemed clear that window may have already closed.

Authorities are now struggling to contain — and understand — escalating outbreaks in three countries, South Korea, Iran, and Italy, while additional countries, like Lebanon and Israel, have recently reported their first cases as well.

 

February 23, 1945 Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima island, Tokyo Prefecture.
Yes, Iwo Jima is part of the Tokyo metropolitan area, which is as good an explanation as any as to why the battle was so hard fought.

The first flag raising, which at the time, everyone was so enthusiastic about.

And the much more famous second flag raising, which was filled with controversy for years afterwards.

In any event, the carnage on that little patch of sulfurous hell on earth had just begun and many of the men you see in these pictures were killed there.

Just something to consider today.

MILESFORTIS will return.

Two Dead, 79 Infected as Italy’s Government Fights Coronavirus Outbreak

Cases of the new coronavirus in Italy, the most affected country in Europe, rose on Saturday to nearly 80, killing two people and prompting the government to close off the worst hit areas in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Authorities in the two regions, where the outbreak is concentrated, have cancelled sports events and closed schools and universities, while companies from Ray-Ban owner Luxottica to the country’s top bank UniCredit have told workers living in the affected areas to stay home.

Iran Now Says 6th Person Dead of New Virus

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian officials Saturday reported a sixth death from the new virus that emerged in China.

The governor of Markazi province told the official IRNA news agency that tests of a patient who recently died in the central city of Arak were positive for the virus.

Ali Aghazadeh said the person was also suffering from a heart problem.

Earlier on Saturday, health authorities reported a fifth death from the coronavirus and said the fatality was among 10 new confirmed cases in Iran. It was not immediately clear whether the sixth fatality was among those 10.

Coronavirus Cases Triple in South Korea; Who Keeps Eye on Africa, Iran

The number of new coronavirus cases nearly tripled in South Korea on Saturday, the fourth consecutive day that tally has seen a major spike. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 433 — less than 24 hours after the sum stood at 156.

As of Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases was just 31.

Many of the new patients Saturday were located in or near Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city, where dozens of people linked with a Christian sect known as the Shincheonji Church of Jesus have shown symptoms of respiratory illness. The church, which has about 150,000 adherents, says it has shared with authorities the names of members who may have been exposed to the virus, and it is encouraging them to enter quarantine.

 

Slovakia Effectively Bans Islam From Country, Forbids Mosques

Another eastern european country seems to have had enough of their islamic invasion

Slovakia has adopted measures making it difficult for Islam to become one of the country’s officially recognized religions, making it the European country with the toughest laws against Islam in all of Europe.

In 2016, two-thirds of deputies, including opposition ones, voted in favor of a legislation submitted by the governmental Slovak National Party (SNS) that required religious groups in the country to have 50,000 followers to run their schools, open religious establishments or qualify for government subsidies. The law previously required only 20,000 signatures.

According to official sources, Islam, which was primarily targeted by the law, has a maximum of 5,000 followers in Slovakia.

In 2016, then Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview, “I’m sorry, Islam has no place in Slovakia. It is the duty of politicians to talk about these things very clearly and openly. I do not wish there were tens of thousands of Muslims.”

Based on the last census, religions with the required population threshold include the Roman Catholic Church, to which almost 70 percent of the Slovak population claim allegiance, the Protestant Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession which makes up 7 percent, the Greek Catholic Church at 4 percent, the Christian Reformed Church at 2 percent, and the Orthodox Church at 1 percent.

During the height of the migrant crisis, the Slovak interior minister at the time said, “We want to help Europe with the migration issue. We could take 800 Muslims, but we don’t have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?”

Other politicians have also been open about the fact they do not want the Muslim population to grow in Slovakia.

“Islamization begins with kebab and is already under way in Bratislava. Let’s realize what we can face in five or ten years,” said SNS Chairman Andrej Danko in 2016.

“We must do everything we can to ensure that there is no mosque in future Slovakia,” Danko added.

Until now, Slovakia is the only EU Member State where there is no official mosque. Instead, the Muslim community in the country meets in rented houses or temporary prayer rooms.

At the same time, Slovakia is not the only country to carefully choose which religion it will recognize in its territory.

In the neighboring Czech Republic, for example, the Community of Buddhism, which mainly the local Vietnamese community follows, recently applied for registration. However, the Czech Ministry of Culture did not comply with the application for the third time.

Compared to Slovakia, there are significantly fewer Catholics in the Czech Republic. According to the latest data, there are about one million Catholics in Czechia, which corresponds to about one-tenth of the population.

But there are only a few Muslims in both countries; in the Czech Republic, Muslims accounted for less than 0.1 percent of the total population.

Pew: Only Half of Americans Think Colleges Have Positive Effect on Society

I’m surprised it’s that high.

A new poll from Pew Research revealed that only half of Americans believe that colleges and universities have a positive effect on society. Now, a George Mason University professor has some theories as to why higher education has become so unpopular with Americans.

According to a column published this week by the Daily Signal, Americans have an increasingly negative attitude towards colleges and universities. The column, which was penned by George Mason University Professor Walter E. Williams, makes the case that Americans are turning on higher education.

Williams highlighted a poll by the Pew Research Center that revealed that only half of Americans believe that higher education has a positive effect on society.

It’s not perfectly clear why so many Americans distrust academia. The rising cost of attending college has become a regular concern for Americans around the country. However, Williams has some theories as to why the poll results were so unfavorable for colleges and universities.

Williams cited a study published by the National Association of Scholars that studied the political activity over 12,000 professors. The study revealed that only 22 of the professors included in the study donated to Republican candidates for office.

Langbert and Stevens conducted the new study of the political affiliation of 12,372 professors in the two leading private colleges and two leading public colleges in 31 states.

For party registration, they found a Democratic to Republican (D:R) ratio of 8.5:1, which varied by rank of institution and region.

For donations to political candidates (using the Federal Election Commission database), they found a D:R ratio of 95:1, with only 22 Republican donors, compared with 2,081 Democratic donors.

Williams cited other crises in higher education as reasons for the poll results such as universities failing to disclose millions of dollars in funding from foreign governments.

Gov. Andy Beshear signs bill requiring school resource officers to carry guns

Despite calls from civil rights groups to veto the legislation, Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday signed a bill requiring school police to carry guns.

All Kentucky schools are now required to have at least one armed police officer under state law, effective immediately.

While understanding opposition to the measure, Beshear said at a press conference Friday he could not allow officers to not have the weapons they may need in confronting a school shooting.

“I simply cannot ask a school resource officer to stop an armed gunman entering a school without them having the ability to not only achieve this mission, but also to protect themselves,” Beshear said. “We must be able to stop the worst of the worst.”

Signing Senate Bill 8 is best for the state as a whole, he continued.

Moving forward, Beshear said his administration will work on training officers to “start addressing the reason some kids might not feel safe because of a police officer.”

Beshear’s decision comes after the bill passed the Senate and House with large bipartisan margins, making a veto almost guaranteed to be overridden.

Flint Man Shot by Home Owner for Attempting to Gain Entry while Armed with a Knife

FLINT, MI – On February 11th, 2020, Flint Police responded to the area of 1000 block of Garden for a shooting. On scene, the occupants of a home reported that a man, armed with a knife, was attempting to gain entry into their house.

One of the occupants shot the man then held him until police arrived.

During the same time frame, another report was received that a man had just robbed a teacher at knife point at a nearby elementary school. The school had just dismissed students and there were no children present at the time of the reported robbery.

The description of this armed man matched that of the one who was taken into custody on Garden.

The suspect, Jacob Sword, 30-years-old, was transported to a local hospital and treated for his non- life threatening injury.

Jacob Adam Sword has been charged and arraigned in this case for Armed Robbery, Home Invasion 1st Degree & Assaulting Police.

Judge temporarily halts transfer of coronavirus patients to quarantine facility in California city.

A city in California won a battle against the state Friday, at least temporarily, when a judge halted the transfer of people diagnosed with the coronavirus to its community for a quarantine site.

Costa Mesa, California, filed a legal action after it learned federal officials planned to use its Fairview Development Center to house and quarantine several patients who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The city said it was given little notice, and without input, about the plan.

“We have received no information regarding how the facility will be prepared, what precautions will be taken to protect those in the facility as well as those who live nearby, and other important planning measures,” Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley said in a statement.

Judge Josephine Staton, according to the city, issued the temporary restraining order late Friday night. An expedited hearing is expected to be held Monday afternoon.

One key indicator will tell us when the coronavirus outbreak is winding down — but we’re not seeing it yet.

It has been more than seven weeks since the coronavirus outbreak started in Wuhan, China. Since then, at least 2,250 people have died and more than 76,000 have gotten sick.

The virus’ continued spread prompts an obvious question: When will this end?

A recent study from the Chinese Center for Disease Control found that illnesses in China may have peaked on February 1, when the largest number of patients started showing symptoms. That could be a sign that the outbreak is already tapering off, but the researchers also warned that it could rebound once Chinese residents return to school and work.

“The data from China continue to show a decline in new confirmed cases,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said at a press conference on Thursday. “We’re encouraged by this trend, but this is no time for complacency.”

Lauren Ancel Meyers, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told Business Insider that one important figure can tell us when the outbreak has run its course. It’s the average number of people that a single patient is expected to infect. Epidemiologists call it the “basic reproduction number,” and it indicates how contagious a virus is.

When the outbreak is winding down, Meyers said, the basic reproduction will be below one.

“That means, on average, every person is infecting fewer than one other person and then the outbreak should burn out,” she said.

That’s not the case yet. A recent study of nearly 140 hospitalized patients in Wuhan estimated that the basic reproduction number for the coronavirus is 2.2, meaning that patients have been spreading the virus to more than two other people, on average. A study in the Journal of Travel Medicine estimated that the reproduction number was slightly higher: around 3.3.

Homeowner believed to have shot, killed intruder in Spencer Co.

Well, if there was a intruder in my home that I had shot and killed, I’d believe it too. Geez, what dunderheads they hire to write news copy.

SPENCER COUNTY, Ky. (WAVE) – Kentucky State Police are investigating a fatal shooting in Taylorsville in Spencer County.

KSP Trooper Stuart Jackson confirmed to WAVE 3 News that just before 1:30 p.m. Thursday, KSP Post 12 was called in reference to a disturbance at a home on the 4800 block of Plum Creek Road.

Trooper Jackson said when investigators with KSP Post 12 and the Spencer County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene, they found a man dead in the home. The initial investigation shows the man entered the home and was confronted by the homeowner, who shot and killed him.

Their names have not been released.

No charges have been filed.

The suspected intruder’s body was brought to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville for an autopsy.

 

 

 

Gun stores, firearm instructors notice number of women buying guns on the rise

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) – New numbers show more women have a gun at home and local gun stores and teachers of firearm classes say they notice the difference.

That study shows, since 2017, the number of women buying guns has been on the rise. Some site social media, but others say now is the time women are taking things into their own hands when it comes to safety.

Boys move over because lately, more girls just wanna have guns!

Mark Whitlock Jr. will tell you. He’s the vice president of Mark’s Outdoor Sports in Vestavia.

Coronavirus up to 20 times more likely than Sars to bind to human cells, study suggests

That means ‘more contagious’.

  • New strain appears to be more readily transmitted from human to human than Sars, Texas researchers find
  • Further studies needed to explore human host cells’ role in spread between people, the report says

The deadly new coronavirus is up to 20 times more likely to bind to human cell receptors and cause infection than severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), a new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin has found.

The novel coronavirus and Sars share the same functional host-cell receptor, called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

The report, published on the website bioRxiv on Saturday, said the new coronavirus had around 10 to 20-fold higher affinity – the degree to which a substance tends to combine with another – for human ACE2 compared with Sars.

But the researchers added that further studies were needed to explore the human host-cell receptor’s role in helping the new virus to spread from person to person.

“Compared with SARS-CoV, 2019-nCoV appears to be more readily transmitted from human to human,” the report of the study said. “The high affinity of 2019-nCoV S for human ACE2 may contribute to the apparent ease with which 2019-nCoV can spread from human to human.”

The disease caused by the new coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has named Covid-19, has killed more than 1,800 people and infected over 70,000 worldwide.

The number of Covid-19 deaths is more than double the global figure of 813 attributed by the WHO to the Sars epidemic of 2002-03.

The new study found that although the novel coronavirus’ receptor-binding domain (RBD) had a relatively similar structure to that of Sars, it did not have appreciable binding to three published Sars RBD-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which are copies of one type of antibody used to neutralise pathogens.

The researchers said this suggested antibody cross-reactivity – the extent to which different antigens appear similar to the immune system – may be limited between the two virus RBDs, meaning Sars-directed mAbs will not necessarily work against the new virus.

Instead, they identified the spike protein of coronaviruses, which is essential to gain entry into host cells during the infection process, as the most important target for vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and diagnostics.

“Due to the indispensable function of the [spike] protein it represents a vulnerable target for antibody-mediated neutralisation,” the report said. “Knowing the atomic-level structure of the spike will support precision vaccine design and discovery of antivirals, facilitating medical countermeasure development.”

The WHO has declared the outbreak a global public health emergency, making it the sixth incident to date to warrant that designation.

There are currently no specific treatments for the novel coronavirus but the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that the first vaccine may be available in 18 months.

Violent Crime Rate Continues to Drop as AR-15 Ownership Rises

Despite some claims to the contrary, the United States is in a solid decline in the violent crime rate over the last couple of years. According to some preliminary data sourced from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, violent crime rates have dropped in the first half of 2019 when compared to the first half of 2018. This is a trend that has continued with consistency since 2017.

Despite ongoing pressure being put on gun owners by various anti-gun organizations, the rate of ownership has continued to rise. In particular, the amount of “sporting rifle” ownership has continued to grow rapidly. Some would have you think that an increase of sporting rifle ownership would lead to higher violent crime rates, however, data shows this is simply not the case.

 

Violent Crime Rate Continues to Drop as AR-15 Ownership Rises

Violent Crime Rate Continues to Drop as AR-15 Ownership Rises

 

When looked at through an objective lens, firearms manufacturers and owners are some of the most scrutinized and tested in regards to following the laws and regulations of the land. Both the firearms and ammunition industries have to work with and ultimately cooperate with not only federal agencies but local law enforcement agencies as well to maintain compliance standards.

Violent Crime Rate Continues to Drop as AR-15 Ownership Rises

Violent Crime Rate Continues to Drop as AR-15 Ownership Rises

On that note, as a whole, firearms commerce in the United States has continued to increase since 2013 according to the  Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. Firearms in the American market are more prevalent than ever despite the declining violent crime rate.

As shown by the above graph, beginning in 2008 and continuing through 2013 there was a sharp rise in the manufacturing of all firearms as a whole. Of significant note, Pistols and Rifles accounted for the majority of the firearms made, which would include AR-15’s or “sporting rifles”. What’s even more interesting is the drastic record-breaking 11,497,441 firearms manufactured in 2016.

To further back up the notion that an increase in firearms would not be responsible for an increase in violent crime, John Hopkins University just concluded a study that shows that there is no evidence to suggest that “Assault Weapon” bans would reduce mass shooting events.

 

Dallas Security Guard Fatally Shoots Man Who Allegedly Assaulted, Pointed Gun At Him

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A 26-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday evening after he allegedly assaulted a security guard and pointed a gun at him at an apartment complex in Dallas, police said.

Police said the incident happened at around 8:30 p.m. in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 5300 block of Monmouth Lane.

According to police, the man, Jamal Patterson, became upset after he was told by a security guard, 62-year-old Richard Farris, that he couldn’t work on his vehicle in the parking lot.

Police were told by Farris and other witnesses that Patterson punched the 62-year-old multiple times and then went into his apartment to grab a handgun.

According to police, Patterson went back out with the gun and pointed it at Farris. This was when Farris fired his own weapon multiple times, police said.

Patterson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Farris was interviewed by officers at police headquarters and was released. The case is expected to be referred to the Dallas County Grand Jury.

 States That Defend Us—Where Do Our Military Volunteers Call Home?

There’s no end to fun surveys that purport to measure patriotism among the states, with military enlistments often part of the criteria.

However, using enlistment rates to gauge the regional willingness to volunteer for the armed forces betrays a common misunderstanding of the way the U.S. military operates. What matters is accessions to the military, not enlistments. Accession is a term used when a civilian joins the military, having passed mental, physical, educational and legal standards, and swears an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Enlisted personnel—in other words, not commissioned officers—enlist for a term. When that term is up, they can leave the military or choose to reenlist. Thus, states with a large active duty presence will also then see many enlistments……….

Contrary to popular myth, members of the U.S. Armed Forces are mostly drawn from the middle class, with the lowest income quintile being slightly underrepresented, and the highest quartile being even less represented, with about 17% of enlisted personnel coming from the top 20% of neighborhoods by income. Further, 92% of accessions to active duty have a high school diploma, compared to 90% of adults age 25 and older.

But as representative of the nation as our armed forces are, there are stark regional differences in the makeup of our military, with the South contributing more than its fair share of personnel and the Northeast largely lagging behind, with a few exceptions.

Reviewing a 2016 report from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness titled “The Population Representation in the Military Services” shows that California (17,729), Texas (16,139) and Florida (11,552) had the largest number of people enlist in the military. But these three states are the three most-populous states. Further, new recruits are mostly 18-to-24 years old with about 0.5% of them volunteering and being accepted for active duty each year.

Looking at each state’s share recruits by the number of 18-to-24-year-olds in the state determines how well or how poorly a state is doing compared to its recruitable population. By that measure, the top five states in 2016 were: Hawaii, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Florida. The five places with the smallest share of recruits were: Washington D.C., North Dakota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.

Wisconsin Church Self-Defense Bill Hearing

On February 20th, the Senate Committee on Insurance, Financial Services, Government Oversight and Courts will hear Senate Bill 822 to improve the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their loved ones in churches.

Senate Bill 822 affirms that law-abiding adults with a license to carry firearms for self-defense may do so in places of worship unless the property is specifically posted to prohibit carry. This ensures that such decisions involving security are left up to individual places of worship rather than the government mandating a one-size-fits-all solution. So-called “gun-free zones” simply disarm law-abiding citizens and leave them defenseless against criminals who ignore arbitrary boundaries.

Columbia (Missouri) Man Faces 20 Years for Terrorist Plot in Support of ISIS

A 20-year sentence and lifetime supervision will deter Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr. and others like him from from the “clarion call” of the Islamic State, federal prosecutors wrote in a memorandum seeking the maximum penalty for a Columbia man who pleaded guilty to aiding terrorists.

In opposition to the long sentence, defense attorneys for the 28-year-old who plotted to attack transportation services in Kansas City and other acts over the course of several months argue mental health issues combined with a mockery of his race and intellect by fellow soldiers led him to extremists ideologies.

Hester pleaded guilty in September before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays and will be sentenced March 4 in Kansas City. Discharged from the U.S. Army shortly after basic training in 2013, Hester over the next several years turned to Islamic extremism, eventually preparing to wage war against the United States.

Couple shoots 3, kills 2 after attempted home invasion

“Two outta three ain’t bad.”

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Police say people living in a northeast Austin apartment shot three people breaking into their home, killing two of them. A man and woman died Tuesday night in the attempted home invasion.

The third person who was shot, a man, was treated for non life-threatening injuries.

Police say the shooting took place inside a unit at the Creekside on Parmer Lane apartment complex at 10:30 p.m. Police say people inside the unit fired the shots but did not say who they were, how many people fired a gun, or how many shots were fired.

“They were running around everywhere, ambulances and everything,” said Witness Tyler Watts. “With their assault riffles running, they were huge.”

Police had the majority of the complex blocked off with crime scene tape.

Tyler Watts was just moving into his new Creekside apartment when the shooting happened. He thought a spot farther from where he used to live at Lamar and Rundberg two years ago would be safer.​​​

The boxes are still piled up in his new unit. ​He recently moved away from violence in California.​​